Ticino-Switzerland : May 4-5 - downtown Lugano and Lugano Lakers football in Neuchatel

Notice: I am having trouble with this blogger working from Firefox. Now I am using Internet Explorer, but then with IE, I have to search and upload ONE picture at a time, which is aggravating and time consuming. If I am not able to work quickly on this blog, well, then I just won't have time for it. So when you see a lot of blank days.... sorry! (this took a long time just to get this page up!)

May 4. Rick and I took a walk to downtown Lugano. When we got to Piazza Dante, in front of the Manor department store, we noticed tables set up and waiters dressed in tuxedos serving Nespresso coffee. It was their "La Dolce Vita" promotion, in which not only did we get served free Nespresso with a little dessert, but got yellow sunglasses!

May 5. Rick left with the team on a double decker bus at 5am for Neuchatel. It's about a 4 1/2 hour drive. The junior team was playing at 11am and the senior team at 2pm. I decided to take the train and left our town at 7:48 by bus to the station. I took the train with a connection in Zurich to Neuchatel. In Neuchatel the bus I needed to take was waiting at the station (I figured this out ahead of time with the Swiss train website and the help of Google earth!) I got off the bus at the bottom of an area called Le Chanet. I knew from google earth that there would be a stairway up the mountain, and yes, there it was. Sunny, warm and after 5 hours of travel I had to hike up those stairs! I made it to the field to see the junior team win 37-7!

The senior game proved to be much tougher. We had beat this team a few weeks ago in Lugano without a problem, but they had improved! It was a tight game and we couldn't move the ball much on offense. At first I was watching the game from the slope on the side of the field, but it took muscle to hold myself steady there, whether standing or sitting - the slope was so steep! I ended up finding a soccer field that was on a terrace higher than our game field, giving me a great view of the game. How exciting! There was about 1 minute left in the game and the score was 14-6, in favor of the Neuchatel Knights. Oh boy! we came back to score 2 touchdowns to win the game, 20-14!!! I was the only one up there on the top field jumping all over the place! The boys were so happy!

Oh, I need to mention that the mother of 3 of the players, who had previously made pasta for the team and fed them on the road at a rest stop, well, Rick said she made enough pasta for BOTH teams! I can't imaging how anyone can cook a pasta meal for one, let alone TWO football teams, and then pack it up to serve it on the road! Not only that, but after the game she had bread, prosciutto and sliced tomatoes to serve as a snack, along with a crate of apples. She deserves a gold medal! OH! OH! OH! AND she washes the uniforms after every game! Must take her all week knowing how these Swiss washing machines work. Phew!